


Filled With The Ink Of Our Hearts

by TheFandomLesbian



Series: Spencer's Criminal Minds One-Shots [2]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Comedy, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 08:28:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26848945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFandomLesbian/pseuds/TheFandomLesbian
Summary: Emily has an appointment to get her scars from Doyle covered at a tattoo parlor. There, she and JJ have a surprise encounter with the rest of the team.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Series: Spencer's Criminal Minds One-Shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940851
Comments: 14
Kudos: 159





	Filled With The Ink Of Our Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ItsEmilyFreakingPrentiss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsEmilyFreakingPrentiss/gifts).



“Our bodies were printed as blank pages to be filled with the ink of our hearts.” -Michael Biondi

…

“I don’t know about this, Jayje.” Emily’s keys jingled where she held onto her lanyard, some part of her still wanting to double back to her car and trash this whole idea. Her other hand was loosely clasped in JJ’s as they walked down the sidewalk together, approaching the tattoo parlor. They’d planned this for months, since that encounter on the plane when they discussed this, when Emily realized JJ’s placement at the backstop, but upon her return, she had realized there was one problem: Covering the horrific, ugly, pink, torn scar of Ian Doyle’s initials on her chest meant enduring the truly mortifying ordeal of showing the scar to another person, a stranger to boot. “I’ve had enough doctors and nurses make disgusted faces at me for a lifetime. I don’t want to start with tattoo artists.”

“He’s not going to make a disgusted face at you,” JJ pacified. “Spence did all the research. This guy is a professional, and he’s the best at scar work in the city. I  _ promise, _ he’s seen worse.” Emily didn’t know what  _ worse _ could be, but JJ held the door to the parlor open for her, and she had no choice but to enter, reluctantly stuffing her lanyard into her back pocket. 

The heavily tattooed woman behind the desk greeted them with a smile. JJ approached her. “Hi! We have an appointment at three with Matt.”

The woman nodded, jotting their names down. “Hey, Matt,” she called, “you ready yet?”

“Another half an hour!” called the man from around the corner. “Just wrapping up.”

“You heard the man. Go ahead and take a seat.” 

They rounded the corner, and they began to sit down until a familiar voice stirred them from their reverie. “Kid, it’s gonna be  _ fine. _ You’re completely overreacting.” Emily and JJ turned their heads in synchronization. Sure enough, there sat Spencer Reid and Derek Morgan, the former with his leg stretched out in front of him and his pant leg pulled up over his knee. “Nobody gets bloodborne diseases from tattoos anymore!”

Emily scoffed in spite of herself. “ _ Reid _ got a tattoo?” she asked incredulously. “What, was the machine for press-ons empty? Did you forget to stop in Chuck E. Cheese?” 

“Emily,” JJ reprimanded, but then she gave Emily’s hand a squeeze and looked at them. “What are you two doing here? Spence, shouldn’t you be at home with Hotch?” 

Morgan stood and crossed his arms. “Well, that’s kind of a long--”

“Derek!” Penelope came out from behind a curtain. “Derek,  _ get back in here! _ ” she hissed. “You two left me alone with him, and he’s drugged out of his mind and his hands are  _ really sweaty! _ ” 

“--story. Kid, you’re up.”

“What, no way! I got the tattoo so I wouldn’t  _ have _ to hang out back there with him.”

_ Who?  _ Emily’s face twisted up, perplexed at this conversation. “Is…  _ Hotch _ getting a tattoo?” 

Spencer sighed. “We’ve had this appointment for weeks. He’s been to a few consults for the memorial tattoo of Haley I designed for him, but he was really nervous this morning, so when we dropped off Jack at Rossi’s, he gave him a bottle of Valium.” 

A sing-song voice arose from behind the curtain. “Pen-ell-oh-pee!” Hotch called from behind the curtain. “Come hold my hand…” 

“How many did he take?” Emily asked, her eyebrows raising into her hairline. Penelope hissed a frustrated sound at Morgan and Spencer and ducked back behind the curtain to please him. “The whole fucking bottle?” 

Morgan chuckled, pulling out his phone. “I gotta get some of this on video.” JJ jumped up and tried to wrestle him for his phone. “What? JJ, c’mon, he’s gonna want to see this, because he’s not going to remember a damn thing--it’s  _ funny, _ he told us he loved us and started  _ crying, _ this is  _ Hotch, _ I’m begging you--”

“Well,” Spencer said dubiously, swallowing hard, “he took two in the car, and then he took two more as we walked in, and then when he saw the first needle, he grabbed a big handful of them, and by the time I got the bottle away from him, it was--”

“You’re so pretty, Penelope. I’m so glad you’re here,” Hotch cooed behind the curtain.

“--too late.” 

“You have such pretty hair… You’re almost as pretty as Spencer.” 

Morgan laughed again. “Hotch called us and asked us to come in to see his new tattoos. I told Reid we’d take shifts if he got a tattoo on his knee. And he did.” 

Emily’s eyebrows had yet to drop back into their original position, unable to process this information inundating her brain. “So… dare I ask?” Spencer hastily tried to roll down his pant leg to obscure the tattoo from view, but Morgan grabbed him. 

“Easy, there, pretty boy, the ladies want to see your tat! Chicks dig a man all tatted up.”

Spencer flushed red. “Morgan,  _ please-- _ ” 

Emily squinted down at the bold, all caps font there on his kneecap, covering the gunshot scar:  **TWINK.** She covered her mouth to keep from guffawing on the spot. “Twink?” she repeated aloud. “You got a tattoo on your knee that says  _ twink _ just to get away from your boyfriend for a few minutes?” 

“Penny… Penpee… Pen… If you had babies, would they be people, or would they be kitties?” 

“I’d do it again,” Spencer said, shoving down his pant leg. 

Another, unfamiliar voice came from behind the curtain as the tattoo artist spoke to Hotch. “Alright, buddy, I know you’re feeling good, but you’re probably gonna want to put your shirt back on. This is a big mural, and you don’t want too much sunlight on it. Mess up an expensive bunch of work.”

“Uh, Hotch, your shirt is on backward--”

“Aw, thanks.”

The curtain drew back, and there they all stood in front of him, a ridiculous smile on his face. “Are you sure it was Valium and not some kind of oral nitrous oxide in pill form?” Emily whispered to Spencer’s ear. Morgan turned on his camera, JJ having forgotten her quest to get it away from him. 

Hotch’s eyes widened at the sight of all of them. “Penny! You didn’t tell me  _ all _ my friends were here… I love them so much.” Spencer, face reddening by the minute, went to help him stand. “Emmy! Are you getting a tattoo, too? I got a whole bunch of tattoos… I was scared coming in, but Dave gave me this pill, and I wasn’t scared anymore--Spencer, give her the pills.”

“No, no, I don’t think Emily wants the pills, I think the pills are going to be flushed down the toilet where they belong and Rossi is going to receive a strongly worded letter from an anonymous doctor about the dangers of sharing prescription medication--” Hotch started to stumble. “Morgan, help--” JJ and Penelope both dove to steady him. Morgan took a step back to get everyone in the frame. 

Morgan tilted his head. “Hey, Hotch,” he asked in a sweet voice. “Tell us you love us again?”

Hotch grinned as broad as the sun. “Fuck you, Derek Morgan,” he sang aloud. 

JJ passed Hotch off to Morgan and watched as the four of them trotted down the street. “Still anxious?” JJ asked Emily. 

“Not about the tattoo,” Emily said with a nod. “Just about what happens when Hotch sees that video tomorrow.” 

JJ considered. “Yeah,” she agreed, “same.” 


End file.
